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In hopes of moving past what’s been the most controversial era for the institution ever, the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden on Tuesday named a new CEO and president whose focus will be to restore relations with the broader community and ensure that the Garden’s economic standing improves in the years to come. Meanwhile, two top employees were also let go on Tuesday, signaling that the Garden’s financial woes remain a very significant reality.

Starting on December 1, the Garden’s new leader will be Dr. Steve Windhager, who is currently the director of landscape restoration for the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas, and the brainchild behind the national Sustainable Sites Initiative, which gives a LEED-like rating system to landscape architecture. (See SustainableSites.org for more info.) Windhager takes the helm in the wake of the disastrous Jesusita Fire, which devastated large chunks of the garden, and following the passage of the controversial Vital Mission Plan, a development proposal that was approved this past summer — albeit with severe modifications — after years of wrangling with neighbors, county government, and other critics who saw the plan as going beyond the scope of the garden’s historic mission. The plan’s main proponent was former CEO Edward Schneider, who announced his departure just before it was finally approved.

Windhager said he followed the Vital Mission Plan process, and is aware of the challenges that await him. “We can all agree that the last couple years have not been the highlight of the garden’s performance and I think that things are going to change in the future,” said Windhager, a native Texan who got his doctorate from the University of North Texas. “There’s a lot of opportunity to rebuild the relationships that the garden has with the larger community and to really clarify the important role that the garden can play as a critical component of the cultural life of Santa Barbara. I know that’s not gonna be easy and it’s not gonna come right away. It will involve me and the rest of the staff taking a lot of time to reach out to the rest of the community.”

Windhager believes that the breakdown in communication between the garden’s administration and the community was the root of the problem, and he said he mentioned as much to the board of directors during his interviews. “That the board hired me should say they agree,” he explained.

Windhager believes he is uniquely qualified to bridge that gap. “I have a long history of engaging diverse groups of stakeholders in a dialogue process,” said Windhager, referring to his work on the Sustainable Sites Initiative, which involved 45 experts from around the country. “If you get two experts in the room, you have three opinions,” he laughed. “Getting them to consensus on a rating system shows that I have experience in dealing with differences of opinions in challenging situations.”

Part of that challenge will also be the garden’s tenuous financial situation, which led to layoffs on the same day that Windhager was hired. “We did lay off two staff members today,” said interim director Andrew Wyatt, confirming that CFO Bob Sherwood and library director Joan Ariel had been let go. “Those were basically part of a process of restructuring the management staff here at the garden that’s been going on for awhile. Nonprofits organizations have been savaged by the downturn in the economy, and this is really a response to that.” Wyatt said the duties of Sherwood and Ariel will be taken over by members of the existing staff. (The Independent has also learned that the garden intends to sell its property at 2333 Las Canoas Road due to the financial crunch.)

Windhager said he had just learned of those layoffs a few minutes before he called The Independent. “These are definitely challenging times,” said Windhager. “The garden is being forced to make a lot of very difficult decisions and it will be my first priority to rebuild the sound financial footing that’ll take the garden into the next century. That is the top of my agenda, so that we don’t have to go through things like this anymore.”

When asked if he was sad to be leaving his home state, Windhager said that coming to Santa Barbara made it much easier. And, he laughed, “I think I’ll see some of my friends more often now!”

Comments

He sounds - and looks, with that smile! - great. Indeed, the root cause of the problem was the relationship with the community, of saying "my way or the highway," and let's hope that's changed, that there's a cooperative spirit and an emphasis on Santa Barbara area native plants rather than tea houses, art exhibits and pavement. I'll wait and see a bit but I look forward to renewing my membership that I dropped.

The previous managment certainly dragged it down, spending so much money on Davies Communication and lawyers to fight the community, so that even the CFO has had to be let go.

I can't help you with your reading comprehension, Mr./Ms. BongHit, but in case my writing is not as clear as I hope it is, I will offer another version of the same thought:

-- Creating an evacuation plan for people in the Botanic Garden in the event of fire is simple and will be perfectly effective in 99 out of 100 fire scenarios.

-- To deny, delay, and attempt to argue against Botanic Garden plans, staffing, and any changes based on the irrational fear of a hugely unlikely confluence of events which would result in a massive traffic jam and a firestorm immolating of hundreds of innocents, well, that's a bit wack.

-- Pick a stronger argument based on reason, not fear.

And though I may not be the picture of calm when faced with an even greater hysteria muttered by your buddy Dave_Pritchett, I'll take a pass on the Bud, as it muddles my mind. (But Yes on Proposition 19!)

As the former director of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (beginning way back in 1972 up to 1994), I can attest to the fact that Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is part of the DNA of the city; it is the only institution of its kind educating us about the native plants of the region and the Channel Islands. Because donations for this nonprofit, as with most such agencies, do not meet all of the needs of the organization, it must seek ways to attract audiences. Status quo means stagnation -- visits are infinitely postponable, the willingness to provide charitable financial support low on the personal priority list.

A true welcome to the new director would be to great him with a willingness to ask how we can help as well as listen to his and the staff's plans for revitalization. Consider measurable growth in membership -- in numbers and in dollars. The opportunity is there. Take it and Santa Barbara will be a better place.

I am delighted that the old guard is out the door and the new guy is in the pipeline. I just wish it had happened a long time ago.

Earlier comments might give the impression that this institution's mission is narrower than it actually is. The Bot Garden's mission is considerably broader than education about local plants. Its focus is native plants of California, northwestern Baja, and southwestern Oregon; its mission involves research, conservation, and collections, as well as education. While it is the only institution of its kind in Santa Barbara, there are other botanic entities in California that are engaged in one or more of these disciplines.

Re the comment that if donations do not meet all of the needs of an organization, it must seek ways to attract audiences: I strongly disagree. The place to start is by taking a realistic look at those "needs" and making sure they aren't merely wants and dreams, perhaps the desires of a kingdom-building CEO and an out of touch board. The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden CEO and trustees overtaxed the budget with an assortment of six-figure income "vice president" positions; some of the jobs - like the CFO and the public relations VP- should have been classified as (lower salaried) "managers".

(Do any of these board members get it? The reason they are called “trustees” is because they hold the institution in trust for the public good. They had a fiduciary duty to the community, and they blew it.)

As for the comment about increasing membership numbers at the Botanic Garden, on the surface, that may seem like a good idea, but it's a hard sell. Actually, it’s close to impossible. The reality is that native plants are darned hard to market - they aren't as interesting to the general public as whales, giraffes, fine art and historical artifacts. And let’s face it - poppy fields and twig houses have a very short shelf life. (As do the memberships purchased during their residence.)

I wish the best for Dr. Windhager; he has a lot of repair work to do, but hey – he’s a Texan with a great smile; he can handle it.